The Best New Restaurants of 2017
There are few places on earth that churn out new restaurants as quickly as Shanghai these days. What a time to be alive and living in this F&B wonderland. As the year comes to a close, we’re looking back at some of the best new restaurants that came out of 2017.
Homeslice
Address: B1/F, 158 Julu Lu
Tel: 021 5309 9332
Hours: Sun-Thu, 11am-midnight, Fri-Sat, 11am-2am
It might be hard to believe Homeslice only just opened this year, but it’s true. They brought killer pizza to the Shanghai masses while giving us one more reason (perhaps the best reason, actually) to visit Found 158.
Diner
Address: 145 Wuyuan Lu
Tel: 021 6416 1678
Hours: Wed-Mon, 10am-10pm, Closed Tuesdays
Taking up on one of the most primo corners in the French Concession, Austin Hu’s Diner is a throwback to the classic American diner, while nudging it into foodie-approved modernity with high quality (and often homemade) ingredients.
Cyclo
Address: 158 Julu Lu
Tel: 021 6390 0078
2017 was all about Found 158, and Cyclo brought killer Vietnamese and Laotian dishes to the little underground party mall. Affordable, awesome venue and food that’ll make you want to go back again and again.
Zapfler
Address: B1/F, 158 Julu Lu
Tel: 021 5386 2337
Hours: Mon closed, Tue-Thu, 4pm–12am, Fri 2pm-2am, Sat 11am-2am, Sun 11am-12am
German craft brewery Zapfler was a must-visit in 2017, offering strong German beers and excellent German bar food to accompany it (schnitzel, sausage etc). Of course it didn’t hurt that their venue is a big beautiful, industrial-looking space perfect for knocking down a few after work.
Joe’s Pizza
Address: 281 Wujiang Lu
Tel: 021 6139 4940
Hours: Daily, 11am-10pm
2017 will forever be known as the year Shanghai got its pizza act together. Joe’s really threw down the gauntlet in terms of what great pizza should look and taste like. Their bustling little West Nanjing shop is one of our favorite places for a slice and a beer. Affordable pizza that tastes perfect, not sure what else you could ask for in this world.
Zozzo Pizza
Address: 1111 Zhaojiabang Lu, Metro City, 1/F, Room 18B-19A, near Caoxi Bei Lu
Tel: 021 6441 1017
Hours: Daily 10am-10pm
Zozzo goes for a more artisanal style of pizza, a great option for the foodie pizza lover. Their emphasis is on high-quality ingredients, especially their cheeses. It’s a different sort of pizza, but just as beautiful as the others.
Hooked
Address: B1/F, 158 Julu Lu
Tel: 021 6333 2198
Hours: Daily, 11am-late
Some of the best Fish and Chips around the city are nestled down in Found 158 at Hooked. It’s a gorgeous venue with excellent drinks to boot.
Tribe
Address: 291 Fumin Lu
Tel: 021 6093 2982
Hours: Daily, 8am-11pm
This year Tribe gave us organic, health-centric food and drinks along with a lot of community-oriented events. Awesome vegetarian and vegan options along with some meat choices as well. The best part: it’s all super delicious and quite affordable!
Palmetto
Address: 1/F, Bldg A3, 800 Changde Lu
Tel: 021 3255 3368
Hours: Daily, Lunch, 11am-2pm, Afternoon Tea, 2pm-5pm, Dinner, 5pm-10pm
Southern, family-style American food. It’s affordable comfort food that’s both steeped in tradition, while offering some modern surprises.
OH.MY.BURGER
Address: 691 Jianguo Xi Lu
Tel: 158 2188 0569
Hours: Daily 11am-10:30pm
42 36017 42 15276 0 0 3512 0 0:00:10 0:00:04 0:00:06 3511Maybe you’ve seen the Ramen Burger on your WeChat moments, instagram, Facebook, whatever. If that photo was taken in Shanghai, there’s a great chance it was here. Aside from that, they’ve also got a ton of other creative burger choices, as well as solid traditional offerings.
Crafted
Address: 199 Hengshan Lu
Tel: 021 5427 0757
Hours: Mon-Fri, 11am-midnight, Sat-Sun, 10.30am-midnight, Kitchen's last order, 11pm
From the people who brought you Bistro Burger comes Crafted: a chic, slightly more upscale spot for great ribs and a variety of seafood. They’ve also got a slew of cocktails and imported beers on offer.
The Bull & Claw
Address: 110 Fengyang Lu
Tel: 021 6266 6819
Hours: Daily 11am- 11pm
One of the most legendary brunches in the city returned to Shanghai after shuttering their original location. Bull & Claw 2 is back, as big, beautiful and mouthwatering as ever.
Pirata
Address: 1/F, 9 Dongping Lu
Tel: 021 5404 2327
Hours: Tue-Sun, 6pm-midnight, Kitchen closes at 11pm
Spanish style tapas in a beautiful setting, the new Pirata turned a lot of heads after opening their new venue on Dongping Lu.
Colca
Address: 2/F, 199 Hengshan Lu
Tel: 021 5401 5366
Hours: Dinner, Tue-Sun, 5:30-10:30pm, Bar: Tue-Sun, 5:30pm-1am, Snack menu available on bar till 1am, Closed Mondays
Eduardo Vargas and crew brought Peruvian cuisine to Shanghai with Colca. It’s hip, sexy, delicious, and has enough Latin flair to ensure you’ll be back again and again.
Bread etc. 2
Address: 1486 Nanjing Xi Lu
Tel: 021 6247 0788
Hours: Daily 8am- 9pm
Same team, same people, same food menu as the first one. Sound boring? It’s not, it’s amazing and as they say: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Ban Ban
Address: 5/F, 999 Huaihai Zhong Lu
Tel: 021 3363 7737
Hours: Daily, 10am-10pm
Sproutworks just can’t stop giving us healthy delicious food, and we just can’t stop eating it. In 2017 they gave Shanghai Ban Ban, offering a new spin on the Buddha bowl, with all sorts of healthy goodies to choose from and build your meal. So. Good.
Truck Stop Grill
Address: 188 Ruihong Lu
Tel: 021 5583 0788
Hours: Daily, 11am-10pm
How many restaurants have a truck sticking out of the wall? And even if that were a popular thing, Truck Stop Grill would still have them beat with their killer selection of classic American fare.
Xixi Bistro
Address: 181 Taicang Lu, No 16, Room 02
Hours: Daily 6pm-12pm
Tel: 021 6321 8861
One of the more buzzed-about openings this year was the new Xixi Bistro. Did it live up to the hype? Yes.
Zeitgeist
Address: 537 Haifang Lu
Tel: 021 3220 5986
Hours: Daily: 11am -2am
Zeitgeist offers up the raw essence of Bavarian cuisine with simple, delicious dishes, heavily based on meats and other hearty ingredients.
DODU
Address: 81 Changshu Lu
Tel: 021 6431 5176
Hours: Daily, 11:30am-10pm
Rotisserie chicken had a banner year in Shanghai during 2017, much to our delight. DODU keeps it delicious and very French, offering whole chickens for RMB 198 or RMB 268 for a set that includes four sides.
Heat
Address: 199 Maoming Bei Lu
Tel: 021 3220 5689
Hours: Daily, 11am-11pm
Tucked along Maoming Lu’s Feng Sheng Li area, and wedged between huge names like Goose Island and Hard Rock, Heat very much held its own this year with a kick-ass venue space and some utterly perfect French Rotisserie Chicken.
Brut Cake Café
Address: 698 Yuyuan Lu
Tel: 173 2100 8129
Hours: Daily, 9am-9pm
Brut Cake may not be new (the furniture store opened 4 years ago) but Brut Cake Café is. Owned and operated by foodie Priscilla Young and her husband Jun Wu (who happens to be a chef), the café has interesting fusion foods and adorable furniture, most of which has some sort of cute face on it.
T8
Address: W08-W10, 3/F, Hubindao, 168 Hubin Lu
Tel: 021 6355-8999
Hours: Daily, Brunch-11:30-2:30, Dinner-5:30-10pm, Bar- open till 2am
T8 opened its stunning new Xintiandi location this year, much to the delight of classic Shanghai fine dining lovers. Their Mediterranean and Asian fusion was as good as ever, albeit a little bit more on the pricey side.
Alan’s Bistro
Address: 445 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu
Tel: 021 6329 1699
Hours: Daily 5:30pm-10pm
It might not have gotten a ton of buzz after opening on the bund, but Alan’s Bistro certainly deserves it. The upscale French bistro is like a work of art, with a beautiful open kitchen and the food to match.
Chop Chop Club
Address: 2/F, Three on the Bund, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu
Tel: 021 5308 5399
Hours: Mon-Sat 6-11pm (last order)
Easily one of the biggest and most talked about openings of 2017 was Paul Pairet’s Chop Chop Club. The restaurant shares space with Unico and has a huge digital display board that lets customers buy food as it’s coming out of the kitchen. Smart, fun and utterly delicious.
Sober Kitchen
Address: 2/F, 99 Yandang Lu
Tel: 021 5309 8261
Hours: Daily, 5pm-1am
Sober Kitchen is one part of the three-parted F&B super project Sober Company (the café and bar are the other two). From Shingo Gokan, the legendary barman behind Speak Low, every aspect of the place is sleek and stylish, but especially what comes out of the kitchen.
Midnight Burger
Address: 97 Xiangyang lu
Tel: 155 1893 0597
Hours: 11am-late daily
After a stint on the doomed YKL, Midnight Burger came back with a vengeance. Great burgers, chill venue and yet another reason Xiangyang was suddenly one of the hottest F&B streets in the city this year.
Fresh Off
Address: 9 Ziyun Xi Lu
Hours: 10am-9pm
Tel: 1381627 2264
Austin Hu can truly do no wrong in Shanghai. Along with diner and a revamped Madison Kitchen this year, he also managed to launch Fresh Off, collaborating with Taiwanese native Jessica Chu to offer up some incredible Taiwanese fried sandwiches.
STYX
Address: 199 Hengshan Road
Hours: 5-10pm Tues-Sat
Tel: 021 5401 9356
STYX gave us skewered meats with a story this year, and both are top-notch reasons to make Hengshan Lu a great place to be again.
Tiger Bites
Address: 108 North Xiangyang Lu (near Huaihai Lu)
Hours: Daily, 8am-2am
Tel: 021 3669 6833
Tiger Bites is (sort of) supposed to be the cover business for a secret entrance to the new Flask. And it is, but, their tasty little bao sandwich things (referred to as ‘tiger bites’) are so amazing it’s worth a visit in its own right. Pictured above is their Tiger Bites Pig- braised Pork Belly, Sesame Powder, Chinese Sauerkraut, Parsley for RMB 26. Total bliss.
Chihuo Xiaoyaohu (aka Spooky Hotpot)
Address: 2 F, Building 16, Lane 193, Maoming Bei Lu (Fengsheng Li complex)
Tel: 021 6148 8278
Oh to hell with it, Chihuo Xiaoyaohu knocked our socks off this Halloween by launching an all-out haunted house-like hot pot restaurant. They knocked our socks off even more by keeping all of the decorations up more than a month after Halloween has passed.
Chelae
Address: 2/F, No. 9, Lane 229 Maoming Bei Lu
Tel: 021 5255 6865
Hours: Daily, 5-11pm
Chelae was yet another reason the Feng Sheng Li complex on West Nanjing was so incredible this year. The seafood-centric restaurant offers a dazzling venue along with some of the city’s best selection of crab, steak, lobster and oysters.
The Beach House
Address: 2/F, 758 Julu Lu
Tel: 021 6266 9818
Hours: Daily, 3pm-midnight
The concept behind The Beach House, by Tony Liu, is a fusion between the city and the sea. Along with chef Pierrick Maire, from Marseille, that concept is executed splendidly, making it one of our surprise favorites this year.
Moka Bros
Address: 1/F, 108 Xiangyang Bei Lu
Tel: 021 3669 6090
Hours: Daily, 10.30am-10pm
A new addition to Shanghai’s hipster dining scene in 2017 (we needed more of that –right??) Moka Bros is a trendier, more down-to-earth version of element fresh. Yummy salads, wraps, poke bowls and a whole host of nutritious delights. This was one of the coolest places to get a meal this year, and probably will be for a long time.
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